"They're Not Human. But They Hunt Human Women. Not For Killing. For Mating!"	Year of Release: 1980 Directed by: Barbara Peeters (and Jimmy T. Murakami) Produced by: Roger Corman Running Time: Approx. 80 minutes Rating: R Listing on the A.K.A. Page: YES! Click Here! A Second Opinion: B-Notes Buy it on DVD at: Amazon.com or Movies Unlimited.com. My Rating:

Jim Hill- Doug McClure! One of the several heroes of our film who helps exterminate the "Humanoids From the Deep." He's also Johnny Eagle's guardian angel (more on that in a minute).

Carol Hill- Jim's wife. She may have a small role in this film, but she figures into the near total destruction of the mutant fish-men. In protection of her young child, Sean, Carol literally guts one of the voracious humanoids with a knife. "Hell hath no fury than a woman's scorn."

Hank Slattery- Vic Morrow! Local upstart who's vouching for the CanCo fish cannery. Said cannery will supposedly breathe life into the struggling town of Noyo. All that stands in Slattery's way is ...

Johnny Eagle- Anthony Penya! Local Native American trying to fight the building of the cannery. For the trouble he causes, he gets beaten up, his house is blown up, and his dog is killed, all courteousy of Slattery. In the end, they put aside their differences to defeat a common enemy (kind of like the Chinese during World War II ... well sort of).

Dr. Susan Drake- Anne Turkel! Scientist on CanCo's payroll. Apparently she knows more than she's letting on and does reveal the possible origin of the fish-men. In the end, she helps deliver a healthy, baby fish-mutant/human hybrid!

Jerry and Peggy- Two horny teens. Jerry's mauled to death by a "humanoid" which then captures and rapes Peggy. Peggy later gives birth to the creature's offspring and (probably) dies.

Linda and Tommy- Linda is attacked by "humanoids" while driving a truck (how those pesky monsters got on the truck is beyond me). She ends up driving off a bridge, plummeting to a fiery death! Tommy is mauled by an icthyoid (fish/man), but is saved from certain death by Johnny Eagle.

Joe Williams and the Whitewater Band- Noyo's premiere folk band!

Other Horny Teens and Townsfolk- Humanoid fodder.

The Humanoids From the Deep- Ok, just to get the record straight, they are not trout-men! Though they are big, smart, amphibious and mean as hell, these mutants are extremely vulnerable. A single blow to their head with a two by four is even more effective than a rifle. They're pretty much all wiped out, though their efforts to rape women were slightly successful. (Note: I will refer to the "humanoids" by several names in this review. Such as icthyoid [pronounced as ick-th-ee-oid. The nomenclature for fish with humanistic features, like an opposable thumb and/or legs for bipedal travel], fish-men, etc.)

When I first came across Humanoids From the Deep, I didn't have high hopes. The plot sounded cool, but it's an 80's Corman flick! Sure I love the man, but he has made some really terrible films in his time. After watching it, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Let's tally up what makes it so good shall we? Let's see, we've got mutant fish-men, Doug McClure, female nudity, fish-men raping said nude females, and a decisive battle that will blow you away! The movie begins in the small fishing village of Noyo (I can only assume it's Noyo, California near Fort Bragg). We immediately meet three of our main characters, namely Jim, Hank, and Johnny. They all run into one another on the docks and discuss the cannery.
Johnny is a Native American, and his people rightfully own the land in which the cannery will be built. He believes said cannery will completely wipe out the local fish population. Slattery is all for it and warns the Indian (excuse me ... Native American. Sheesh! Almost wasn't politically correct there!) not to meddle. Moments after that bit of character development, a few fishermen are out on the water. It turns out they have a "humanoid" (from the deep) stuck in their net. Thinking it's a mother load of fish, they have Jackie (fat little boy spawned by the boats captain and some hapless woman) start the winch, but wouldn't you know it, there isn't any gas in it.
So Jackie tries adding fuel to the winch engine but his impatient father calls him over to try and pull the net up by hand. As Jackie rushes over he drops the gas can (Mistake #1). As the portly young lad leans over to yank on the rope, he's pulled into the water. He's dragged beneath the waves and a fountain of blood rises to the top. The Amish looking fellow that was piloting the boat grabs a flare gun and runs outside, only to fall and have it misfire on the deck (Mistake #2), thus igniting the boat and creating a beautiful fireball. The whole thing is deemed an accident since that particular boat always seemed to leak oil.
Later that evening at the Hill residence, something startles Jim's dog and his baby boy. The dog is let loose and follows the scent through some trees .... SUDDENLY out of nowhere, a fish-man appears and viciously strangles the dog. This was a great scene too, because you know something is about to happen but you don't know when it will be unleashed! One minute the dog's sniffing the ground, the next thing you know the dog is in the monster's grasping claws after a series of swift cuts! Great stuff!
The next day, Carol (Jim's wife) goes out to feed the dog. When she goes over to the doghouse to wake the loveable pooch, a cat comes charging out of the doghouse! What the hell was that cat doing in there?! After discovering that the dog's missing, Carol and Jim go on a search and find the half-eaten golden retriever's remains (Air Bud! Nooooo!). That very night, we get to meet the rest of our fodder ... I mean cast, namely all the horny teenagers. The whole town has gathered for a party, in which the operators of CanCo Incorporated will make their speeches to try and win support. And let me tell you they make a good argument, saying that it will create jobs for people and a surplus of genetically enhanced fish. Everything seems to be going great until Johnny Eagle walks in uninvited, holding his dead dog in his harms. You see, every fisherman's dog that was left on the docks at night was found slaughtered in the morning, but Johnny's dog was unharmed. They naturally blamed Johnny and killed his beloved pet in revenge. Johnny's then dragged outside and pummeled by Slattery and his goons.
Things look bleak for the Indian brave until Doug McClure (hero of the common man) arrives to save the day. After Slattery and his gang are nearly beaten into submission, the Sheriff finally arrives and breaks things up. The next afternoon, Jerry and Peggy (I tell ya their horniness has no end) are at the beach and decide to wander off for a private swim. As they frolic in the surf, Jerry is pulled underwater. Peggy thinks he's joking around until she finds his mangled body (half his face is gone yet he still manages to stand up in the water). She tries to escape but reacts too slowly. Peggy is then dragged onto the sand, her bikini torn from her body, and the horny icthyoid just leaps onto her and begins thrusting (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Rape isn't funny, but this is just ridiculous!).
In the meantime, Slattery has been spying on Johnny Eagle. Johnny has found a big shot attorney who will take his case on for free. Said lawsuit would tie things up with the cannery construction and surely CanCo will leave! But as Slattery said earlier, Johnny's not going to stand in the way. Back at the beach, two horny teens and a dummy(?!) are in a tent on the sand. The dummy can apparently talk and move by itself (man, that's creepy), and talks the girl into stripping (Description of me during this scene: Bulging eyes staring at screen, jaw wide open spilling drool down chin).
Suddenly a fish-man comes tearing through the tent and kills the young guy, while the COMPLETELY NAKED GIRL RUNS AWAY DOWN THE BEACH (male hormones ... taking ... over)! She of course runs into the waiting arms of another creature and she's raped. Back in town, Johnny Eagle happens to run into Tommy and Lisa, so invites them up to his house for dinner. As they're about to eat, Slattery and a few of his goons blow up Johnny's cabin with a Molotov cocktail. One, single, solitary Molotov cocktail! I'm not an expert in that department, but I doubt that would have created such a gigantic explosion (let alone any really). Tommy runs down on the dock after hearing a noise, and begins shooting in the dark, thinking he's frightening off those responsible. He of course is then mauled by a few icthyoids until Johnny rescues him. I still find it strange that these mutants are so susceptible to any blow to the skull. It takes three or four bullets to kill them, but you hit one in the head with a rock or stick and it's dead almost instantly.
Before Tommy's brush with death, Johnny had told Lisa to take his truck and get help. As she's driving down a road, two humanoids begin their assault. The first is run down, but the second one causes Lisa to drive off of a bridge to her fiery doom. The next morning, Slattery and a group of others are at the docks, discussing Lisa's death. Johnny shows up with Tommy, who's still barely alive, and explains what he saw to Dr. Drake (who was conveniently on the scene while trying to rent a boat). Jim and Carol arrive on the scene to see their wounded son. Carol goes to the hospital with Tommy while Jim rounds up Johnny and Dr. Drake for a "fishing trip." They come across some caves near the coastline and decide to go ashore and look around.
Moments later they hit bipedal fish central! Jim starts blasting away at the monsters while Johnny is dragged out to sea by one (yes, once again the Indian gets his ass handed to him. Even these sea beasties are racist!). Some sharpshooting by Jim saves Johnny and the trio of heroes continues their search. Dr. Drake notices a human leg sticking out of a pile of seaweed and investigates. AH! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU! An icthyoid rushes out of some seaweed towards her. Luckily Johnny happened to have a speargun and blasts the scaly beast in the chest, killing it. Now that the area is secure, Dr. Drake gets a closer look at the human leg and finds that it's attached to Peggy, who is still alive!
They take the girl and a dead humanoid back to Dr. Drake's lab, where she tells her theory to Jim and Johnny. Apparently CanCo experimented with a growth hormone called "DNA-5." Said hormone was administered to groups of trout, some of which escaped during a major storm (thank god for expository conversation). The trout were then possibly eaten by Coelacanths, (ancient fish that still exist in some oceans today. Primarily the Indian Ocean and a few areas off the southern coast of Africa.) which then evolved into the bloodthirsty icthyoids. After taking in all of that information, Jim realizes that Noyo is holding it's annual carnival on the docks and everyone's there. Jim, Johnny, and Dr. Drake arrive and show off the dead fish creature to the crowd. That's when all hell breaks loose. The Humanoids From the Deep pull an all-out attack on the carnival. People start running in all directions, screaming and trampling others as the fish-men maul people and try to rape a few women.
At the peak of the invasion it seems as if the limited number of icthyoids may be winning, but some of the local male population regroups and starts fighting back. The best scenes during this carnage are when one guy is killed on a carousel and his corpse is just going around, and around on it. Hahahahaha! The other scene involves a single humanoid surrounded by about seven men armed with boards and other makeshift weapons. On the count of three they all leap in and beat the creature to a bloody pulp! Hahahahaha! This movie rules! In the meantime, Jim and Dr. Drake have lit the water in the harbor on fire to ummm ... stop the humanoids from retreating I guess.
Things are under control so Jim hurries back to his house where Carol is all alone. In the meantime, Carol fights for her life when several humanoids invade her house (you see a few seemingly break in, but only one of them took the initiative). Armed with a knife, she stabs the single creature to death until it falls to the floor in a puddle of gore (hey that rhymed!). Jim arrives and nearly gets stabbed by Carol. Somehow he managed to grab her arm before the knife's blade could get anywhere near his head (I knew it! Doug McClure has the gift of seeing the future!).
They return to the harbor at daybreak at the scene of the night's previous war between man and beast. Though all seems well, the terror isn't over yet! Back at Dr. Drakes lab, Peggy is giving birth to an inhuman offspring. As she pushes, the creature gets impatient and tears up through her stomach (what is with Corman and monsters popping out of women's stomachs?!). So a newly evolved species of fish-men has come to be. But what happened to that other girl that got raped, and what became of the wounded icthyoids that returned to the deep? We may never know. One thing I do know however is that James Horner orchestrated the music for this film. You know him best for his work on Aliens, Braveheart, and a slew of other films. Just knowing that he did the music for this movie, makes it seem all the better doesn't it?

Hank Slattery: "See, you and your people, you don't understand that. I'll tell ya one thing. You're not gonna stand in our way."
Johnny Eagle: "That's what Custer said Slattery."
Hank Slattery: "I know. You won the battle, but we won the war."

Dummy: "Hey honey. Wanna see my woodpecker?"
Girl: "Will I get splinters?"
Dummy: "Don't worry baby. I've been sandin'."

Jim Hill: "You're pretty sure of your self."
Dr. Drake: "I have to be with men like you around."